Archive for November, 2009
Without a doubt, the entire face of cinema has been changed by the phenomenon that has been Star Wars over the last thirty years. Star Wars trivia will show that what begin as a single script for a movie has grown into an empire that spawns six of the top grossing films of all time, television shows, an expansive body of literary work, and merchandising in every medium imaginable. Star Wars was conceived by George Lucas, and he has remained the primary creative force behind the franchise in all the years since its initial release with the first film “Star Wars” in 1977.
A Star Wars quiz will note that there are six primary films within the franchise. The interesting thing is that they were not released in chronological order. Decades after the release of the initial film trilogy, a second trilogy was created and released as prequels. The first film, “Star Wars” was released in 1977, and sets the stage for the entire saga. The second, “The Empire Strikes Back” was released in 1980, and is widely considered the best of the films. The final installment of the original trilogy was “Return of the Jedi” which came out in 1983.
A Star Wars trivia buff will know that the first trilogy places Luke Skywalker as the hero, and Darth Vader as the Villain. By the end of the trilogy, we learn that Vader was actually Luke’s father, born Anakin Skywalker. The three prequels revolve around Anakin’s education and eventual fall. The first of these was “The Phantom Menace” (1999), the second, “Attack of the Clones” (2002) and the third “Revenge of the Sith” (2005) wherein we finally witness the transformation of Anakin into Vader.